Wake-up call helps Purdue golfer Jarle Volden regain form

Big Ten championships begin Friday in Baltimore

Purdue junior Jarle Volden is coming off medalist honors at last weekend's tournament at Ohio State. The Big Ten championships will be played this weekend in Maryland(Photo: Purdue Athletics Communications)

Story Highlights

Junior Jarle Volden has placed in the top 25 in four of the five tournaments this spring

Volden won last weekend's event at Ohio State with a record 9-under-par performance

The native of Norway posted the program's fourth best score for 54 holes last weekend

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Let’s go back to late October and the Purdue men’s golf team is set to play its final two tournaments of the fall season.

The Crooked Stick Invitational in Carmel and the Tavistock Invitational in Florida were the final events before the Boilermakers turned their attention to the spring season.

Missing from the individual lineup was junior Jarle Volden. As a sophomore, Volden recorded three top-20 finishes, including tying for eighth at the NCAA Regional Championships. Volden had proven he can play at this level.

He had momentum and confidence on his side. However, Volden stumbled during the fall season. Coach Rob Bradley kept Volden at home for those final two tournaments.

“It’s a tough thing to do when you have a guy that’s meant a lot to our program and played well for us. “He wasn’t playing very well. That’s basically what happened,” Bradley said.

“At the time, we felt like there were other guys who were playing better. A lot of times that will fire somebody up and that’s what it did with Jarle.”

Six months later, Volden is coming off his first career medalist performance after winning the 54-hole Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State last weekend and earning Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors.

Perfect timing for Volden and the Boilermakers, who are set to compete in this weekend’s Big Ten championships in Baltimore.

The native of Oslo, Norway came off a strong summer showing but “relaxed a little bit too much and assumed I was going to be good.”

This is golf’s version of a wake-up call.

“I didn’t play good,” Volden said. “Why would you bring me if somebody else is playing better?”

The message was received by Volden, who has steadily improved since the spring season started with Big Ten Match Play in Florida. Purdue was co-champions of the event, finishing with a 3-0-1 record.

His play has continued to shine, capped by last week’s tournament record of 9-under-par 204 to win by six strokes. Volden’s score ranks fourth in program history for 54 holes.

“It’s hard being left at home,” Volden said. “That was my first time being left at home in my college career. It just makes it feel way better winning. Looking back at that, I’ve come a long way since the end of October.”

His play has been good but not good enough to overtake Brian Carlson, the team’s undisputed top player this season. The Boilermakers don’t need Volden to surpass Carlson. They just need him to continue his solid play as Purdue gears up to make a run during the postseason.

Carlson and Volden are roommates. The close friendship keeps the competitive fires going since they’re around each other every day.

“He didn’t take it personally,” Carlson said. “He wanted to get his game back to a place where he knew it could be and worked really hard at it. He’s gotten better every week.”

Late in the fall, Volden’s mechanics “had gotten sloppy,” according to Bradley. Volden took the criticism and the coaching to heart and began the process of regaining his form.

Over Christmas break, Volden returned to Norway and worked with his personal coach. Those mechanics were ironed out and techniques improved. He’s finally reached a level of consistency in every area of his game.

Volden has placed in the top 25 in four of the five tournaments this spring.

Which Bradley hopes pays off with another solid weekend for Volden and the Boilermakers at the conference championships. Purdue beat seven Big Ten teams at last weekend’s tournament, including 13th-ranked Illinois by six strokes.

“We had a lot of strong Big Ten teams there,” Bradley said “That was nice to give them the confidence knowing they can beat these teams. I really like the spot that we’re in. We can certainly go there and win; there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to keep doing the same things we did this week and feed off that confidence.”